atom.”

“Atom?” Deuseau twirled his moustache as his mind raced to recall his high school science class. “Are there other scientists who knew about this besides you four?”

Dr. Bonet nodded.

Concealing his eagerness, Deuseau asked nonchalantly, “Who? Can you tell me?”

“Some of the finest minds in nuclear physics. I will write their names down for you.”

“Bien.” As Dr. Bonet turned on the lamp and opened a desk drawer to retrieve a pen and paper, Deuseau caught sight of something imprinted on the rhino’s leathery cheek. “That mark! Where did you get it?”

Dr. Bonet put a hand to his face. “This? This was where Georges hit me. It still stings.”

“Come closer to the light.”

Squinting, Deuseau peered at the mark on the physicist’s cheek: a faint, yet distinct, outline of a flyswatter imposed over a circle. Almost imperceptibly, he growled low in his throat. “Swatzis.”

Both the inspector and scientist looked up when there was a knock at door.

“Come in,” Deuseau said.

Larousse stuck his head in the room. “Inspector, two witnesses have just shown up.”

“Who?”

“Tourists who claimed they snapped pictures of the thief as he was making his escape.”

“Bon! Show them in.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Thompson,” Larousse announced. A pudgy hippo dressed in a loud fuchsia dress sprayed with yellow flowers carrying an oversized teal purse barged into the room. Trotting meekly behind her was her husband, a crane in a polo shirt, shorts, knee socks, and penny loafers. Three cameras were slung around his skinny neck.

“Isn’t this exciting, Lester?” the hippo gushed, eagerly taking in her surroundings.

“Yes, dear,” Lester replied.

“We’ve never been inside a real laboratory before, though we’ve seen them in the movies, isn’t that right, Lester?”

“Yes, dear.”

After offering his hand to the tourists, Inspector Deuseau began, “About the photographs...”

“Lester just can’t take enough photographs,” Elmira said, heartily pumping the inspector’s proffered hand. “It’s his hobby, you know. He has five cameras, two with telephoto lenses. Isn’t that right, dear?”

“Yes, dear.” Lester held a camera to his eye and fiddled with the focus.

“We’re tourists from Usland,” Elmira said, shaking the very confused-looking Dr. Bonet’s hand.

Dryly, the inspector said, “I never would have guessed.”

“First time we’ve been in Pearee. It’s so exciting!” In a confidential aside, Elmira murmured, “And so romantic.”

Deuseau quirked his eyebrow. He had a hard time imagining this odd-looking couple being romantic, but to each their own. “Oui, madame. After all, Pearee is the City of Love.”

Elmira squealed with delight and jumped up and down, which sent the inspector and physicist scrambling to find something to hang onto to retain their balances. “He called me madame. How French-i-fied. Say something else.”

Impatiently, Deuseau said, “We really need those photographs of the thief. It is most imperative that we get them developed tout de suite.”

Elmira sighed happily. “Tout de suite. Just like a Moorice Chevalier movie. He’s one of my favorite stars, isn’t he, Lester?”

“Yes, dear,” Lester said, snapping a photograph.

Blinking the spots from his eyes, Inspector Deuseau turned to Lester. “If I could be permitted to have the film? The film with the pictures of the thief.”

“Depends,” Lester drawled, winding the film to the next frame. “Just have to figure out which camera I took those pictures with.”

The ever-helpful Elmira said, “They should be on the same roll with the cute little mime, dear...or was it the roll with the Eyeful Tower?”

The inspector, ready to tear his hair out with frustration, gritted his teeth and said with forced politeness, “Why don’t we develop all the film? That way we will be sure to find them.”

Lester considered for a long time. “Okay.”

“Enfin, if you will come with me. I will personally escort you to police headquarters.”

“We’ve never been in a Pearee police station,” Elmira exclaimed. “How exciting!”

“Yes, dear.”

After Lester and Elmira had left the room, Inspector Deuseau told the physicist quietly, “I will keep you updated on any new information, Dr. Bonet.”

“Oh, Inspector!” Elmira sang. “We’re waiting.”

“Tourists. Bah!” Deuseau muttered under his breath.

The Sea Duck
One Hour Later

With her forehead pressed to the glass, Rebecca stared out the passenger side window at the forest-clad mountain range speeding by below. “There’s the Swizz Yalps, Baloo!” she said excitedly. “Aren’t they pretty?”

Baloo grinned at her enthusiasm as well as the sparkle in her big brown eyes. “Yup. They’re pretty pretty as far as mountains go.”

“And look at that little village down there.” She clasped her hands together and sighed with contentment. “It’s just like a storybook.”

“One storybook village comin’ up,” Baloo said, scanning the terrain for a place to land. Spotting a clearing in the green valley far below, he banked the plane to the left.

Feeling the sea plane descend, Rebecca leaned back in the well-worn, well-padded co-pilot’s seat. She watched her husband’s piloting skills with unconcealed admiration. “Now admit it. My idea was good.”

Baloo flipped the switch to deploy the landing gear, then reached over to give her hand an affectionate squeeze. “This is going to be one heck of a honeymoon, honey.”

End of part 1

Love: the Spies of Life
part 2

Swizz Yalps

The mid-morning sunshine shone on a quaint alpine village cradled in a verdant valley between two fir-fringed mountains where Baloo and Rebecca were ambling, hand-in-hand, down the sidewalk. Everywhere they went, they were greeted by lederhosen-clad men and women wearing pastel Swizz muslin dresses.

“What a friendly place,” Baloo commented. He winked at a group of little girls waving at them, causing them to giggle.

Rebecca stopped to peer into the window of a little shop. “Look at this lace, Baloo. Isn’t it exquisite?” She glanced up only to see him gazing down at her tenderly.

“Yeah, exquisite.”

She blushed with pleasure and squeezed his hand as they moved to the next store. “Why do they call these the Swizz Yalps, anyway?”

He gently placed his hands on her shoulders, making her stand still. “Take a listen.”

From the surrounding mountains came a chorus of overlapping, off-key voices. “Yodel-a-e-arooooo!”

“Lovely,” Rebecca said wryly.

“Speakin’ of lovely...” Baloo bought bouquet of edelweiss from vendor and presented it to her with a flourish and a “For you, milady.”

“Why, thank you.” Rebecca sniffed the flowers appreciatively. “Oh, Baloo, isn’t this gorgeous? Look at the scenery, smell the crisp mountain air...Baloo! Where are you going?”

“There’s a guy sellin’ hot chocolate an’ pastries over here.”

She sighed ruefully and addressed the flowers. “I think he’s still married to his stomach.”

Pearee
Police Station Darkroom

Bathed in soft, red light, Marin and Larousse stood on either side of Inspector Deuseau as he dipped the film paper into a fixative solution. He then pulled the dripping photograph out of the solution and rinsed it off. “Voila!”

“That’s him,” Marin said immediately, pointing at the photograph.

“Larousse?”

Larousse nodded, inwardly cringing at the sight of himself splashing into the fountain.

Inspector Deuseau handed the print to Marin. “Get copies of this in every post office, police station, and newspaper in the country.”

“Oui, Inspector,” Marin and Larousse said in unison. They saluted and left the room with the pictures.

The inspector used the tongs to fish another print out of the fixative solution. He rinsed it off and studied the black and white photograph with a grim smile. “It’s time someone showed those Swatzis that they can’t everything they want.”

Jardin de Lucksembourger
Two Hours Later

Rebecca, her nose stuck in a Pearee map, wandered through the park without noticing her surroundings. Baloo followed a few paces behind, loaded down with shopping bags.

Spying an unoccupied bench, Baloo plopped down and let the bags fall from his hands with a sigh of relief.

A half a block later, Rebecca said, “I give up, Baloo. This is one of the most confusing maps I’ve ever tried to read. Can you make heads or tails out of...it?” Discovering that her husband wasn’t with her, she stopped and turned around. “Where did that bear...ah-ha! I should have known.” She marched towards him, her brow furrowed. “What are you doing?”

“What does it look like I’m doin’? I’m sittin’.”

“This is no time to sit. There’s so much more to see.”

“We’ve already seen over half of Pearee in the two hours we’ve been here. Ain’t that enough for one day?”

Rebecca sat down beside him. “But we’ve only been to the Arch de Triumph, Dotre Name, the Luver, the Opera House...”

“Don’t forget every shop in between,” Baloo muttered, shifting the sacks on his lap. His eyes wandered around the bustling park. A pair of children ran by with a boomerang. Carousel music mingled with the laughter of people watching a Bunch and Cutie puppet show. A canoodling teenaged couple lingered at the base of a pear tree. An elderly beaver helped his small grandson float a toy boat in the fountain. In fact, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. That is, everyone but himself. What he wouldn’t have given right then to be drowsing in a hammock with a fishing pole dangling between his fingers.

“They’re just a few little mementoes.”

“Those little mementoes are breakin’ my back.” Baloo grumbled under his breath.

Rebecca reached into one of the sacks, pulled out a paperweight shaped like the Eyeful Tower, and stowed it in her purse. “Better?”

Baloo lifted the sack. It still felt heavy to him. “Oh, sure,